Changes to voter registration and absentee/mail-in ballot counting are among new election laws in Georgia

Legislators in Georgia adopted 33 new election laws related to elections this year, including changes to voter registration challenges and a new deadline for counting absentee/mail-in ballots. They also established new requirements for poll workers, rules for poll observers, and a new system for posting images of voted ballots:

SB 189 is an omnibus elections bill that removed the secretary of state from the state election board, allows election officials to remove a voter from registration rolls up to 45 days before an election, requires all absentee ballots to be counted by one hour after polls close on election day, and changed a definition of probable cause for a voter registration challenge. It also included a provision allowing a political party that has obtained presidential elector ballot access in at least 20 states or territories to qualify for the general election ballot in Georgia. To read more about SB 189, see here.

HB 1207 requires all election officials and poll workers to be U.S. citizens, and grants poll watchers access to polling places, advance voting locations, tabulation centers, and absentee ballot processing locations, and stipulates that they are entitled to observe any activity conducted at these locations.

HB 974 requires watermarks on absentee ballots, establishes a pilot program to scan and publicly post images of all voted ballots on the secretary of state’s website, and expands post-election risk-limiting audit requirements.

The majority of the remaining new laws only impact election procedures in specific jurisdictions within the state, such as new election procedures for city council members or changes to a county board of elections.

This article’s information is based on Ballotpedia’s State of Election Administration Legislation 2024 Mid-Year Report. The report provides insights, analysis, and takeaways from the 3,735 election-related bills we tracked in the first half of this year.

Keep reading: State of Election Administration Legislation 2024 Mid-Year Report